Cannot add star-rating on a newly purchased song

I fixed it - I deleted my Music folder altogether, restarted the music app, selected all the songs and removed all downloads (I don't keep my entire library downloaded on my Mac - I keep a separate copy of all my purchases elsewhere), did a "Update Cloud Library" from the File --> Library... menu and now that specific song can be star-rated.

It seem like a nasty Cloud library sync/cache bug.

On a side note - I have many songs that are either uploaded or matched (as reported in the Info section of each song), but their "cloud status" in the Songs view is blank. I've had that for several months now, so it is a persistent bug that nobody at Apple is looking at.

I guess if you just stream Apple Music (which seems to be the only focus now), you never see this issue...What is iTunes Match..?!? ;)

Unfortunately that is not the issue. I verified the permissions and re-applied to be sure to the entire "Music" folder and it still doesn't allow me to star-rate that particular song. If I right click I don't get the possibility to rate, vs a song I bought the same day, both downloaded, that I can rate and I can see the "rating" option when I right-click on it.

I also thought of removing the song from my library and then re-download/add it from the iTunes Store "purchases" but I don't have even the option to remove it from the library.

I am out of ideas.

Usually it is a caching issue. I buy a bunch of songs, and unless I restart the Music app, they cannot be rated or they are still shown as "Apple Music" although I bought them outright on the iTunes Store.

This one, is stubborn and doesn't want to change, even 10 days after purchase.

I wonder if I should remove the library and redownload it (I have my library in the Cloud).

Also, with Apple Music “match” if you delete a song on your Mac you matched and then re-download it, you get a DRM Apple Music version, not the one you started with. With iTunes Match you always get a DRM free version.

iTunes Match is still available in some hidden iTunes Store hidden menu. My husband had to re-enable it after many years not using it, and found it “hiding” in the account settings of the iTunes Store (accessed with the Mac Music app).